Orario, the Labyrinth City.
Nothing could have prepared the young man for the sights before his very eyes.
Having just passed through one of the city's main gates, his eyes were overwhelmed by everything that lay ahead. People, people, people….people everywhere. Hundreds of them…maybe thousands…just on this one street. And not just Humans either…Dwarves, Elves, Beastmen, Prums, Amazons, and many others in between. Buildings were everywhere too. Shops, stalls, stores, restaurants, houses, storage buildings, and almost no space to speak of between any of them. Any trees, plants, or flowers were few and far between. For a young man from a tiny village in the mountains, the first glimpses of a huge metropolis, like Orario, were simply too much. At best, his village had a total population size of thirty, and it was composed entirely of humans. He was awestruck at this change in scale and magnitude from his home. With eyes wide open, he wandered down the street, afraid to blink for fear of missing something. With his mouth agape and eyes darting all over the place, he started drawing quite a bit of attention to himself.
For those that lived in the city, the sights and sounds around them were perfectly normal and mundane. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Everything was the same as the day before. However, there was one out of the ordinary sight today. There was a young man walking down the street, mouth wide open, attempting to take in every aspect of the city in front of him. Obviously, a tourist or someone new to the city. His mannerisms alone would have drawn attention. However, the young man's physical appearance was stranger still. First, he was tall, lean, and appeared to be very strong. He was built like a stone wall…solid and unyielding. Secondly, his clothes. He wore a torn and tattered traveler's cloak. Impromptu patchwork and repairs were spread all over it. Underneath the cloak, he wore armor, like a warrior or an adventurer from the city. The outline of a round shield could be seen through his cloak. It was very large. Multiple weapons hung from his belt or were strapped to his back also. Beneath the armor, his clothes were in the same condition as his cloak. They were tattered and worn out. Flecks of mud and dirt were everywhere. Even if his clothes had been clean and in pristine condition, they were clearly poor. He was not a man accustomed to luxury.
After a few minutes, the young man began to notice the looks and whispers of the people on the streets and quickly closed his mouth to draw less attention to himself. His eyes still darted from side to side, catching sights and scenes through his peripheral vision. One thing that overwhelmed him more than all the new sights was the sheer amount of noise assailing his ears. People on all sides called out to him. "Freshest vegetables in the city!" "Sharpest swords and axes in Orario! All on sale!" "Beef, pork, chicken, fish…best prices you'll find here, young sir!" It was all too much. He had to focus very hard to block out the countless voices and ambient noises surrounding him. It was something he'd never had to do before in his village. It was a little disconcerting.
He came to an abrupt stop next to a vegetable stand and pulled a very tattered piece of paper out of his pocket. The paper had been folded, crumpled, opened, and closed to the point of almost falling apart. He looked at it briefly as he had countless times before.
Finally, I'm here. It's time to find my familia!
The young man gently folded the paper back up, placed it into his pocket, and began walking down the street once more. With a renewed sense of purpose, he began searching both sides of the street…